Exumas, here we come

Tony and Scott brave the waters to explore the blue hole near Rock Sound, Eleuthera

We've stayed a while longer than we expected in Rock Sound but we've enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We've spent some time with Beth and Scott on Painkiller and Tess and Tony on Edurance. We're all on kind of the same plan to get to the Exumas.

We've had a great deal of fun with them - a games night aboard Endurance and then yesterday we had a series of activities: We all drove our dinghies to the blue holes just off the beach here and Scott and Tony were the only ones brave enough to jump in the cool water and snorkel to peer at the holes.

Then we went back to the boat, rinsed off our salt water spray and headed to Northside Cafe, on the Atlantic Ocean.

We called Dingle's Motors and they called Rose, who owns the restaurant. She picked us up in her 'gets me to and from' tired Honda and headed up the hill to her home. She has the most fantastic view  of the ocean.

We were upset though at the garbage on the beach that had washed up - plastics, shoes (?), bits of glass and debris, much of it apparently from the passing cruise ships.

Still, it was such a terrific afternoon. We lounged on Rose's enclosed front porch out of the wind and she whipped up a series of Bahamian dishes: grouper in tomatoes and okra, plantain, jerk chicken, coleslaw, warm potato salad, cracked conch and homemade sauces for sides. There were eight of us and we actually couldn't quite finish everything.

We heard about Rose's children - most live in Freeport on Grand Bahama, where she's from, but one, her son, lives in Mississauga - for now 'until he figures out he doesn't need to live in Canada and he needs to be at home' said Rose.

We heaved ourselves out of the restaurant decorated in beachcombing finds and shells and a dried turtle and pufferfish (!) and Rose took us back down the hill, letting us out to buy fresh produce from Mr. Hill. We have had the best fresh tomatoes, peppers, tangelos and today we had giant papaya. You can't believe that people grow food on the thinnest of soils here but apparently it's very rich. There are also mango and guava groves too - we also bought a watermelon filled with pits and flavour.

The kids are getting anxious to see our cruising family friends - we know Sheet Music is on its way to the Exumas too and our friends on board Folie a Deux have had a scare with their son having an attack of appendicitis. After a trip back to the U.S., the family is back aboard together in Georgtown. We very much want to see them, particularly after their ordeal. Plus, we just love to visit other cruising kids, everyone just hangs out and has such a good time.

Aidan's been very busy with a number of projects helping Scott as well as trying to finish up his English and French courses - he is resisting Romeo and Juliet even though we tell him how it will help him with the ladies!

Elizabeth is plowing through her math and English and is enjoying her Poisson (fish) project for French.

We're trying to get through some subjects now to make room for several science field trips and labs their teacher has planned.

We are so fortunate to have such good cruising companions with us and we are all enjoying sharing stories and experiences. Sailing seems to be the perfect way to cultivating great relationships.

We're off now, leaving the friendly folks in Rock Sound for the Land and Sea Park and the cays of the Northern Exumas.